Voidfall

Some data

Date: 25/05/2025

Players: 3

Mode: Competetive

Play Count: 05 (irl solo x2, o-l solo x1, competetive 4 player x1, competetive 3 player x1

Winner: Der - 265 points

Playtime: 5h

Setup

Yesterday I was finally able to play the competitive scenario of Voidfall with my playgroup. It was my fifth time playing the game. My friends watched the YT tutorials and listened to my teaching before playing. Without going into all the details of the game we jump in, as started playing.

The game was tense, making us really put heavy thought towards choosing our actions and navigating the game with them. We were not trying to over-think it. Sometimes we were just "taking a decision and rolling with it". If someone made simple mistakes and forgot something, we were more rather forgivable on that topic. I enjoyed it a lot, and my friends, I assume, did too.

Play

The gameplay is fun to play, but it is very low on player interaction. We had only one "direct attack" during the game and some "securing movements," where you wanted to execute some actions because your opponents where possing a possible threat. Therefore, higher player counts in Voidfall don't necessarily equal greater depth. But it doesn't mean you can't enjoy the whole experience with your friends. I guess, the most often occuring interaction, there is, is choosing your Technology Cards, as they are powerfull and limited.

Some overall thoughts

Competitive mode is good for a start when you are teaching your friends. The "Voidborne" upkeep that happens in co-op mode, might be super fun, but it adds a lot of playtime to the game. And 5 hours for a 3-player first game of our competitive mode was still quite a lot.

I understand why this game is such a "Glorified Solo Board Game Experience." It offers great depth and great "space drama" feelings while still remaining a super dry Euro type of game. I love it, however...

This game is a behemoth. It takes a lot of time to set up. A lot of time to learn the rules and a lot of time to play. You can significantly reduce the required time with subsequent plays, but you can't really take shortcuts when learning it. Also... it is prone to Analysis Paralysis. Sometimes you just have to plan strongly ahead, and even processing SOME (because not all obviously) possible options takes a lot of time.